Cycling club indoor rides: a guide for captains

Tour du Pain is free for everyone through 2027, everything included. Donations are optional.

Why a club rides here

Most indoor apps are built around one rider and a screen. For a club the hard parts are different: getting 15 people on at the same time, keeping a 2.5 W/kg member and a 4 W/kg member together, and talking without a separate voice app. Tour du Pain was built for that. Members need no install, only Chrome or Edge on a computer or Chromebook, or Chrome, Edge or Opera on Android, and a Bluetooth smart trainer or power meter.

Start your club

Open Clubs from Home (or press C) and press Start a club. You fill in:

Club name, at least 3 characters.
Tag, 2 to 5 letters or digits. It shows behind members' names on the road, like "VCB".
Jersey, Accent and Shorts colours. If jersey and accent are too close, the form warns you that the band won't show on the road.

Press "Make the club" and you're its captain. A new club shows up for others once two of its riders have ridden. Some well-known club names are reserved for the club itself; if that's yours, there's a code or an address to mail.

You can also ask for a checkmark that says "Confirmed by the club". Fill in the club's website and general address, and Tour du Pain writes to that address; a reply from there is the proof.

Your club kit, with your logo

Members ride in the club colours by default, and other riders see your colours and tag. For your real kit, use "Want your real kit in the game? Mail us" on the club screen and send a photo of the kit front and back, the logo as SVG, and one line saying the club gives permission. A drawn kit has the logo on chest, back and thigh, and leg cuffs. It reads from the chase camera, and riders in the distance show it in colour blocks.

Side view of a rider in a red and yellow club kit riding next to another rider past lavender at golden hour — Members ride in the club kit, and everyone in the ride sees it.

Each member decides for themselves with three switches: Club kit, Club behind my name, and In the member list.

Get your members in

There are three ways in, and you can use all of them:

The club link. "Share with club mates" opens your phone's share sheet or copies the link. Post it in the club's app group. Someone who opens it sees a card with the club kit on their own rider and Join or No thanks. Joining takes a free account; no trainer needed for that step.
Invites. Invite a rider by their rider number, which they find on their Account page (like #00042). The invite shows on their Home, and they decide. You can also invite someone you ride past, from the rider menu.
Ask to join. Riders who find your club in the club list can ask to join; you say yes or no.

As captain you can close the link, so new riders need the club code instead, and remove members. You can also change the club's name or colours (a name change is locked for a while afterwards) and hand the captain role to someone else.

Plan coffee rides for the club

A coffee ride is a planned group ride. On the club screen, under the next ride, press Plan: pick Now, or a day and a time in 10-minute steps, and the ride appears for every member without a link. They see it on the club screen and on their Home with a countdown, Join and a calendar button.

A club ride holds everyone together the way any coffee ride does (the details are in riding with friends). For a captain that means the 2.5 W/kg member and the 4 W/kg member finish the hour side by side, and nobody has to soft-pedal to make it happen.

The club screen: members list, a ready check, this week's km and rides, and the Saturday coffee ride — An example club's screen: members, the week's kilometres and the next coffee ride with how many are ready.

Club radio

During a planned club ride, members hear each other like radio, wherever they are on the road, up to ten voices at a time. Members land in the club ride's room whether they tapped Join or not. Hold R to talk, or keep the mic on. Nothing is recorded. A member who hides from the member list is off the radio too, and leaving the club ends it at once. More on voice and chat in indoor cycling with friends and your club.

One workout together

A club ride can be one workout together. When you plan the ride, choose "Workout together" and pick a workout; the picker shows your favourites first, then every workout per goal with its length. Everyone rides the same blocks on one clock, each at their own FTP, so the whole club starts the sweet spot block at the same second and can talk through it. Join late and you're where the group is; a stop doesn't put you behind. The 105 workouts are in ERG workouts in your browser.

The ready check

The worst part of a club ride is the first ten minutes: someone's trainer won't connect, someone's mic doesn't work. The Ready? card on the club screen fixes that ahead of time. Members connect their trainer and pedal for 10 seconds, then press Test and say something. The card goes away when both work.

The club Ready? card with two checks: Trainer, pedal 7 seconds, and Microphone with a Test button — The ready check: pedal for a few seconds and say something.

The coffee ride card then shows how many members are ready, as one number with no names, such as "7 of 24 ready". The microphone test stays on the member's own device.

The Bakers' Paper

Every week the club screen gets a new edition of The Bakers' Paper: last week's kilometres, rides, riders and new members under a dry headline like "Crust under control" or "Not a crumb lost". One tap shares it with your club's chat. It counts from 3 riders up, shows no names, and a week's totals don't change afterwards.

The club screen also shows this week's kilometres, rides and riders, and each member's own week and place.

Race your clubmates up the Col

The Col du Pain is the game's timed climb, with a weekly leaderboard. Members who switch on "Share your Col times with clubmates and race theirs" get a see-through clubmate riding beside them on the climb, with their gap on the Col card. The Leaderboard has a Clubs tab too: a club's three fastest times of the week, added up.

On a club ride the climb is fair: members who were riding along climb on their own legs from the turn-off, so their time counts, and the first rider to the top waits up to five minutes before you ride on together.

Member privacy

Clubs are built so members share as little as they can. In short:

Members see each other's names and when they ride; the switches turn the kit, the tag and the member list off.
Weekly totals and The Bakers' Paper count from 3 riders up and show no names.
The ready count is one number with no names; the microphone test never leaves the device.
Col ghosts share only a best time and times every 200 m, and only with clubmates who switched it on too.
Off the member list means off the club radio, and members don't see your coffee rides.

What members need

Chrome or Edge on a Windows or Mac computer or a Chromebook, or Chrome, Edge or Opera on an Android tablet, a Bluetooth smart trainer or power meter, and a headset for voice. No iPhone, iPad or Safari, and no ANT+. Members who want to look first can ride the demo without a trainer, and the browser cycling game guide explains how a game in a tab works.

Open Tour du Pain Try the demo, no trainer needed

Questions

What does a club cost?

Nothing. Tour du Pain is free through 2027, everything included, for the captain and every member. It runs on donations.

Can we ride in our own club kit?

Yes. Every club gets its colours and tag. For the real kit with your logo, mail a photo of the kit, the logo as SVG and the club's permission, and it gets drawn.

How do members hear each other?

During a planned club ride, members hear each other like radio wherever they ride, up to ten voices at once. Nothing is recorded.

Can slower and faster members ride together?

Yes. On a coffee ride everyone who joins rides beside the host whatever their watts. In a workout together, everyone rides at their own FTP on one clock.